Thursday 22 May 2008

Indian Spiced Tuna Fish Cakes

Following on from the success of my Thai spiced tuna cakes, I was looking forward to having some spare mashed potato to have another go... but in the end I got fed up with waiting (it's almost summer now - why would I mash potato?! Especially when I can cook with gorgeous Jersey Royals!)

So anyway, I toddled out and bought some old floury potatoes. Came home and boiled them whole in their skin before passing through a ricer. Now here's a good tip for you: If you're using a ricer you don't need to peel the potatoes first! Just chuck em in and squish! Yay! And although it's much quicker to dice up the potatoes before boiling... don't do it. The potato gets waterlogged and loses starch, therefore the dough doesn't work as well. And if that wasn't enough, they don't even taste half as good! So - boil whole, then rice without peeling. Easy peasy!

Anyway - on from the mashed potato preparation... Oh, hang on, one last thing! If you do rice them, then spread them out on a chopping boil after ricing and leave for at least 10 minutes. This lets excess water evaporate away, and also lets them cool down. Both these thing will give you better tattie dough!

Riiiight... deep breath, step away from the mashed potato!
So anyway, this time I decided I wanted to go with more Indian flavours - and I used chickpeas to bulk them out into a main meal rather than an appetizer.

Hey, whaddya know - turns out I don't actually have anything else to say!


Indian-Spiced Tuna Fish Cakes

Don't be put off by the long ingredient list - it's mostly spices!
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
  • pinch fenugreek leaves
  • 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala
  • 1 cup mashed potato - preferably cold
  • 400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1 tin tuna, drained
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1" piece ginger, grated
  • 2 banana shallots, halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 5 heaped tbsp plain white flour
  • Ghee
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the chickpea mixture...
Heat a tablespoon of ghee over a medium heat and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fenugreek leaves. Fry until mustard seeds start to pop, then add the shallots, ginger and garlic and fry until soft.

Add the rest of the spices and a few tablespoons of water, and continue to fry for another couple of minutes. Add the chickpeas and cook out for 5-10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Once the cooking is finished, lightly crush the chickpeas with a masher - don't mash them though as you want to save some of the texture!

Also, don't let the mixture dry out - but make sure you don't add too much water. This is going to be part of your dough, if it's wet it'll be messy!

This can be made in advance - along with the mashed potatoes to throw together at the last minute. I wouldn't advise preparing the whole dough in advance as it may go sticky...

This is the chickpea mix just before crushing - it was so tasty!! I'd have been quite happy to just have eaten this as it was with naan bread!

Make the dough...
Add the mashed potato to the chickpeas, along with the egg yolk and flour. Mix well, flake in the tuna and mix again. Have a little taste and adjust the seasoning as required. If the mixture is very soggy add more flour.

Cook!
I used cookie cutters to mould my fishcakes - a bit of a palaver, but they looked pretty! Make sure you oil them first!
Heat a dab of ghee over a medium heat and place the ring into the pan. Spoon the mix into the ring and cook for 3/4 minutes. Ease the cake out of the ring, and turn - cooking for another 3/4 minutes on the other side.
Repeat until they're done - keep finished ones in the oven until ready.

Serve!
I served mine with salad - they were flavourful enough not to need a sauce. However, a nice raita and a spicy tomato and chili sace would have worked very well!

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12 comments:

Peter M said...

Kittie, these look wonderful...vegetarian, nice tumeric yellow, a spicy kick.

You browned them off perfectly.

Pixie said...

;) haha kittie- I always seem to have too much to say at times- these turned out great.

glamah16 said...

I love this sort of thing. Make me and Cs forget about meat. Really yum.

Thistlemoon said...

This looks so great! I love it!

Cynthia said...

This looks darn tasty. I have to send you my fish cakes recipe when I'm finished writing it up. I think you'll like it.

Heather said...

I love fish cakes ever so. The curry and chick peas are a very clever touch! I want some with greens.

PG said...

My stepmom used to serve tuna fish cakes, but they were always dry and gross. The ingredients intrigue me. Not sure what I would find banana shallots. Can I use regular (French?) shallots?

Dee said...

You like your spice, huh? Me too!
What are banana shallots?

Btw, I have a pretty delish banofee pie recipe. Using dulce le leche, no less. Yes, the very same one you can use to make the banana caramel cake. Just thought i'd let you know :)

Laura Paterson said...

Thank you Peter, they were wonderful... but not vegetarian (though easily could be!)

pixie - sometimes I can't seem to stop blog gabbling (and I love it! ;)

glamah16 - They were so tasty... so much so that my friends finished them all off for me after we'd been to the pub that night!

jenn - thanks!

cynthia - looking forward to it (and my salt fish has started it's soaking today!)

heather - me too, though they are a fairly new discovery for me!

Psychgrad - banana shallots are the biggest type of shallot you can get - which is why I love cooking with them - so much easier to peel! They have a sweeter taste too - so I reckon a red onion would be a good alternative. Oh, I just found out - banan shallots are also known as Echalion, a regal cross between an onion and a shallot... Cool!

Dee - yeah baby - I love my spice... A little bit of chilli makes most things better! See above re. banana shallots :) And thanks for the recipe link!

Anonymous said...

These look awesome, I heart indian food and this is just another one to add to my collection. Thanks a million for sharing!

Reeni said...

I love everything about these-the chickpeas, the spices, yum!

bristol plasterers said...

Hmm these look delicious, thanks for posting up this recipe, looks quite simple to make.


Simon